Dr. Elisa Hallerman
Dr. Hallerman's Story
Recovery Management Agency (RMA) is the first-ever recovery management program of its kind. RMA is a consulting company providing clients with a team of managers to help them navigate their journey toward healing. Prior to founding RMA, I worked as a talent agent in Hollywood for 12 years. My job was essentially to help make my clients’ dreams come true—I loved it. By 2008, however, I felt myself being called to break new ground. I yearned to learn more about the clinical field of addiction, mental health, and trauma.
Once I returned to school, I was confronted with an overwhelming amount of information. Mental health requires holistic consideration of the brain and body. A person would need to read countless books and articles just to understand basic neuroscience. Only then could they consider various treatment modalities to determine which clinician might be the best fit.
When you’re feeling vulnerable, desperate, or defeated—unsure of where to turn or who to trust—navigating a maze of where to go for help in a crisis situation is the last thing you want to do.
As an attorney, I knew it made sense to refer to a lawyer for legal issues and an agent for help with entertainment careers—but who can you turn to in a life-and-death situation, when you’re experiencing an array of symptoms unique to you and faced with seemingly countless treatment options?
I wanted to mitigate that stress. I created RMA to manage, educate, and advocate for each of my clients and their families. Never again did I want someone sitting with their head in their hands, asking themselves, “Now what?”
Soulbriety™ came later. As a researcher studying depth psychology, I learned about the importance of soul in helping a person to create meaning and purpose in their life. I spent five years researching the phenomenological exploration of soul in recovery. I was fortunate enough to have Thomas Moore, the author of Care of the Soul and Dark Nights of the Soul, oversee my dissertation writing. I wanted to examine the following: If we were to reframe addiction as a crisis of meaning with existential and spiritual implications, could soul inform the recovery process? The answer is a resounding YES, and then some!
